Conveyer for plates and other articles



y 1932- H. s. THOMAS ET AL 1,869,237

CONVEYER FOR PLATES AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed July 21, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

, //Vl TOR5 Hues/27- SPE/VcE 7/-/OMA5 WILL/AM ROBERT DAV/Es A TTORNEY July 26, 1932.

H. S. THOMAS ET AL CONVEYER FOR PLATES AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed July 21, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l/VVENTORS HUBERT SPE/vcE 77-/oMAs M/ILLIHM ROBERT 0/? W155 ATTORNEY y 1932- H. s. THOMAS ET AL 1,869,287

CONVEYER FOR PLATES AND OTHER ARTICLES Filed July 21, 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig. 4.

/N V[ N TORS HUBERT 5PNcE 7/;OM/IS W/LL/A M Poem 7 17/; was

/7 TTORNEY Patented July 26, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HUBERT SPENCE THOMAS AND WILLIAM ROBERT DAVIES, OF WHITCHURCH; WALES i CONVEYER FOR PLATES AND orrrnn ARTICLES Application filed July 21, 1931, Serial No. 552,096gandin Great Britain July 31 1930.

This invention has reference to improvements in or relating to means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other articles through treatment baths, furnaces or the like and has for its object an improved means for the said purpose which occupies substantially the same relative space as devices employed for this purpose now in use and which, furthermore, permits of an increase in the number of plates, sheets, bars or other articles which are capable of being subjected to treatment at any one time. 7

The invention consists of an improved means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other 1 articles through treatment baths, furnaces or the like and is characterized by a stationary member provided with a plurality of racks disposed within the bath or furnace each rack being adapted to receive a sheet, plate or other article; and a relatively movable rack member to which is imparted a vertical and longitudinal movement for the purpose of deposit ing the sheets, plates or other articles in the stationary racks and for passing them progressively through the bath or furnace to a delivery point.

Theinvention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying sheets of drawings which illustrate the invention somewhat diagrammatically in its application to a mechanism for use in the manufacture of tinplates for passing the plates through the pickling bath.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a view mainly in longitudinal vertical section showing the movable transfer member in itslowest position.

Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1 but showing the transfer member approaching its uppermost position and removing a plate from the feeding side of the machine in readiness for transference to the stationary member on the succeeding downward movement.

vFigure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 showing the method of raising the plate after it has passed through the bath.

Figure 4 is a plan of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a detail view illustrating the method of effecting the movement of the transfer member.

a rack 7 so that the said section 'partakes of p a comb structure when viewed in side eleva tion (see Figures 1-3). 4

Adjacent the feeding end of the bath and above the aforesaid stationary member 7 is a chute 8 on to which the plates 9 to be treated are fed through a pair of rolls 10, the plates being supplied to the said rolls by a conveyer 11 on to which the plates are fed either by hand or by a known sucker device (not shown). The aforesaid chute 8 is provided at its lower end with a stop ledge 8 At the delivery end of the bath 6 the stationary member 7 is provided with inclined guides '7 which terminate adjacent to a second -belt conveyer 12 which is adapted to receive the treated-plates in a manner to be referred to hereinafter and to pass them to other mechanism through rollers 13. 'Disposed around the sides of the central portion of the sta tionary member 7 is a rectangular transfer member 14 the longitudinal sides whereof have a rack formation generally similar as to dimensions and shape of the teeth to the teeth of the rack sides of the stationary member '7. Adjacent to the feeding end the transfer member 14 is provided with a shallow recess- 14 which is located adjacent to upwardly and outwardly inclined guide bars 14 fixed to the front end of the transfer member 14. At the delivery end the transfer member 14 is formed with a liftingsection 14 having a shallow recess 14 to engage the lower edges of the plates, said lifting section 14 being disposed above the level of the bottom extremities of the teeth of the rack. Adjacent each corner the transfer member 14 has fixed thereto vertical bars 15 said bars 15'being pivotally connected at their upper ends to links 16. The opposite pairs of links 16 are connected by bars 19 which are supported at their central portions from the ends of chains 17 which pass over sprocket wheels 18 and over other sprocket wheels (not shown) the ends of the chains 17 depending from the last mentioned sprocket wheels and being anchored to a balance weight (not shown) for counterbalancing the mass of the transfer member 14. The bars 19 (see Figure 5) have attached to the ends thereof the horizontal limbs of angle brackets 20 the vertical limbs whereof are connected to the pivot pins of pairs of vertically disposed endless roller chains 21 which pass around sprocket wheels 22 mounted in shafts'supportedfrom the frame 28 of the machine, said sprocket wheels 22 being adapted to be driven in the same direction from a common driving shaft 24. The bars 15 are also interconnected adjacent their upper ends by longitudinally disposed side bars 25 having fixed at the centres thereof inwardly directed pins 26 which engage within vertically disposed cam tracks 27 fixed to the frame of the machine on opposite sides thereof. 7

Depending from the frame 23 adjacent to the delivery end are a pair of vertically displaceable downwardly and inwardly curved rods 28 as and for a purpose to be set forth hereinafter.

It will be appreciated that the movement of the endless chains 21 in conjunction with the cam tracks 27 impart successively to the transfer member 14 an upward, forward, downward and rearward movement.

The mechanism operates in the following manner The plates 9 are conveyed from the feeding conveyer 11 one at a time on to the inclined chute 8 above the feeding end of the stationary member 7 with the said plate resting against the stop ledge 8*. Upon the upward vertical movement of the transfer member 14 the plate resting againstthe stop ledge 8 on the chute 8 is lifted by reason of the engagement of the lower edge of the plate with the bottom of the shallow recess 14 and during the final stages of the upward movement of the transfer member theplate is lifted clear of the stop ledge 8 and allowed to fall against the guide plate 14 carried by the transfer member. Upon the subsequent forward movement of the transfer member 14 the plate is brought into register with the first rack space in the stationary member 7 and-is deposited therein upon the downward movement of the transfer member. The rearward movement of the transfer member 14 brings the said member to its initial position. On the subsequent operation of the transfer member 14 the plate deposited as hereinbefore described is lifted from the first rack space in the stationary-member 7 and transferred to the next space and the succeeding plate fed in to the rack space previously occupied thereby. This feeding movement continues until the'last rack space of the stafer member 14 the bottom of the recess 14 in the lifting section 14 of the transfer member 14 contacts with the under edge of the plate and carries the plate upwards and the plate falls on to the conveyer 12 whence it is fed into the nip of the rolls 13, the progressive feeding of the plates through the bath then proceeding continuously during the operation of the transferapparatus' T The rods 28 serve to prevent a plate passing out of the bath to the conveyer 12 from falling rearwardly into the bath or into the rack, and is only operativein the event of a plate leaving the guides. s

It should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to the means described herein for effecting the movement ofthe transfer member 14 and further that instead of working around the stationary member 7 the transfer member 14 may work within the said stationary member 7. I

It is found in practice that a feeding mechanism constructed in accordance with the invention occupies substantially the same space as feeding devices of the kind heretofore in use and that owing to the employment :of a fixed rack which is constantly disposed with-- in the pickling bath a relatively larger number of plates can be subjected to treatment at any one timethan is possible with feeding devices of the aforesaid known kind.

If it is desired to still further increase the capacity of the bath a plurality of stationary rack members may be employed arranged side by side in a lateral direction so as not to increase the length of the bath and thereby to increase the overall length required for a continuously operating apparatus of which the pickling mechanism may constitute a part.

It will be understood that for certain purposes, such for example as the normalizing of steel sheets, the sheets may be dealt with in packs containing a plurality of sheets and the packs passed through the treatment bath by a step-by-step feed in a similar manner to that hereinbefore described with reference to single sheets or plates.

Although the invention has been described in its application to an apparatus for passing the plates employed in tinplat-e manufacture through a pickling bath, it will be understood that the invention is equally capable of use in industry generally for passing articles through liquids such, for example, as preparatory baths for galvaniz ing and other anti-corrosion processesand for passing articles through furnaces for heat treatment and similar processes.

What we claim is '1. A means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other articles through acid treatment baths, furnaces, or the like incorporating a racked stationary member disposed within the bath or furnace, a movable transfer member, means for moving the said transfer member about the stationary member in a closed path and in a cycle involving successive upward, forward, downward and rearward movements, a feeding point, means carried by the movable transfer member for lifting the articles to be dealt with from said feeding point, a delivery mechanism and a lifting means forming part of the movable transfer member for lifting the longest treated articles to the delivery mechanism, the successive upward, forward, downward and rearward movements imparted to the movable transfer member serving to progress the articles to be treated progressively through the bath or furnace.

2. A means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other articles through acid treatment baths, furnaces or the like incorporating a racked stationary member disposed within the bath or furnace, a correspondingly racked movable transfer member, power driven means for effecting a motion of the movable transfer member in a closed path and in a cycle involving successive upward, forward, downward and rearward movements, a feeding point to which the articles to be treated are passed, means carried by the movable transfer member adjacent the said feeding point for lifting the articles from the feeding point during the upward movement of the said member and for de- Dositing them in the racked stationary member upon the succeeding downward movement. a delivery mechanism and means car ried by the movable transfer member adjacent the delivery point for lifting the longest treated articles from the stationary member and delivering them to the delivery mechanism upon the upward movement of the movable transfer member, the successive upward, forward, downward and rearward movements imparted to the movable transfer member passing the articles progressively through the bath or furnace.

3. A means for passing plates. sheets, bars or other articles through acid treatment baths, furnaces or the like according to claim 2, wherein the motion of the movable transfer member is determined by a cam track.

4:. A means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other articles through acid treatment baths, furnaces or the like according to claim 2, having means for counterbalancing the weight of the movable transfer member for the purpose of reducing the power required to effect the desired movement thereof.

5. A means for passing plates, sheets, bars or other articles through acid treatment baths, furnaces or the like according to claim 2, having deflector means for assisting in the 

